“So are y’all in town for long?” Brett does a terrible job of looking like he doesn’t care about the answer.
Sofie wonders why this is the second time she’s been asked the same question in less than 24 hours. But, then again, there are probably only so many new faces that they get around here.
“A few days.” Sofie shrugs noncommittally.
“Well, if you need anything, just ask for Brett.” He smiles earnestly, showing the braces still on his teeth. It’s clear that he’s a good kid, just trying his best, and Sofie decides to throw him a bone. She remembers how hard high school was, and she figures that he could probably use all the kindness he could get.
“You’ll be my first call, Brett. Thanks for all your help.” Sofie flashes one of her best smiles before heading back to her room. She’s pretty sure that she hears him sigh like a lovesick teenager, as she walks away.
She throws herself on the lumpy bed, staring up at the ceiling. She knows that Finn and Darwin will be wondering where she is—and by now they’ve probably moved on to arguing over quantum mechanics or physics or string theory or whatever tonight’s chosen topic was. But she felt too unsettled to join them.
“It's just business, Braun,” she reminds herself out loud.
That was what she had to tell herself sometimes. She was there for the science, and there were few companies that had the kinds of resources at its fingertips that Shale did. Sometimes her personal sensibilities had to take a back seat to the paycheck that she so desperately needed every month.
Not for the first time, she tries to imagine what life would have been like if her father had told her and her mother just how bad things were. But he was a proud man. He didn’t want anyone to think that he couldn’t look after his family, or that the thin thread he had been hanging by was about to be cut. Perhaps if he hadn’t died, if he’d had more time to get his affairs in order, then things would be different. Perhaps Sofie wouldn’t still be trying to scrape together whatever she could to pay off the debts, the bookies, and the goons they sent to collect their money every month like clockwork.
But there is no point living in the world of ‘what if’ and ‘what could have been.’ Scientists live in the world of fact and I’m a scientist after all. That said, sometimes it would be nice to be able to escape the real world, if only for a little while.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I’m almost done here, Chief.” Finn stands up, iPad in hand as he goes over the calculations he’s been working on.
“Great work, Finn.” Even Darwin looks impressed at how quickly Finn has managed to get his part of the site finished. “Not a moment too soon, looks like the weather might be about to change.” Darwin takes a look up at the sky, which is starting to cloud over. “Let’s start taking the gear back to the car.”
Sofie has drifted a little further away from the rest of the team, and she’s so engrossed in the samples she’s collecting that she doesn’t even hear the radio in her ear.
“Sofie?” Darwin barks at her, signaling that she’s clearly missed whatever question he had been asking her. His patience really was starting to wear thin.
“Sorry, boss. I’m here.” She waves over at her colleagues in the distance.
“So? You nearly done or what?” Finn folds his arms and taps his foot against the dirt floor as if he’s going to be late for a hot date.
“Almost. The Geiger’s picking something up over that way.” Sofie points towards the woods at the edge of the canyon. “I just need a few more minutes to check it out and see if it’s anything we need to be worried about.” She doesn’t add that if the readings from the Geiger counter are correct then there’s a serious amount of gamma radiation coming from the woods.
“Alright, we’ll start packing up while you take a look. You have thirty minutes but keep your comms open. I want you to check in if you find anything. Don’t do anything stupid.” Darwin’s voice is firm in Sofie’s ear, but there’s also a note of concern. He believed in the buddy system, but the team just wasn’t big enough for that. Cutbacks had affected the entire company, not just their division.
“Roger that, boss. I’ll be as quick as I can.” Sofie heads off in the direction of the woods, re-adjusting the thick field jacket she was wearing. It was state of the art, lined with metal to protect against the most dangerous radiation. She knew that if the readings were right, then she’d only have a few minutes to get in and get out before she risked contracting radiation sickness. She figures that the Geiger must be malfunctioning and that there’s no way the readings she’s picking up are right.
Most half-intelligent scientists would have doubled back and told the team about the off-the-charts readings and come back with hazmat suits and the whole 9 yards. However, sometimes Sofie’s scientific curiosity was more powerful than her common sense. So, she advances on the woods, making a note as the counter in her hand clicks and signals radiation levels going up and up.
As soon as she crosses over into the woods, the counter falls silent and the arrow on the dial settles on zero. She shakes the machine, wondering if it’s a piece of tech that has gone past its “use by” date. She carries on, moving further into the woods, and the counter spikes again and then falls silent.
“What the…?” she looks between the counter in her hand and the dirt underfoot.
“Sofie?” Darwin’s voice in her ear is crackly, but she can still hear his worry.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine,” she assures him, as she squats down and starts swiping the dirt away, exposing the dark rock underneath. “The Geiger’s busted.”
The rock under foot is virtually black, and it has a crystalline quality to it. It has the same quality as the source rock that she’d found and sent on to Jennie the day before. She doesn’t need a lab to tell her that this isn’t anything that she’s seen before, which in itself is amazing. The woods are silent—except for the crackling every now and again of the broken counter. It takes longer to pick a sample out of the ground than she had thought. Whatever this mineral is, it is seriously strong, she thinks. As she manages to prize a small section free, she feels the first drops of rain on her head.
“Sofie....Rep...Report.” Darwin’s voice is getting more broken as the rain gets even heavier.
“I’m on my way back.” Sofie pockets the sample and hurries back in the direction she’s come in. But after a few minutes, she doesn’t come to the outskirts of the canyon as she’d thought. She doesn’t see her team. She’s still in the woods. “Must’ve taken a wrong turn,” she muses, as she takes out the compass that all members of field teams are issued. She holds it up, but the arrow keeps spinning and spinning as if it were possessed. “Lot of good you are.” Sofie stuffs the useless compass back in her jacket and heads off in the direction she thinks she came in. But the further she goes, the harder the rain falls, and the less she recognizes her surroundings.
“Darwin, I think I’ve taken a wrong turn.” She smiles ruefully as she talks into her head set, knowing that she’s going to get an earful from her boss about getting separated from the team. But as the seconds go by and she doesn’t receive a response, the smile fades from her lips.
“Finn, come in. Can you locate my position?” There’s a clap of thunder as Sofie says the words, and the sound makes her jump. The rain is getting so heavy she can barely see a few feet ahead of her.
“Darwin, Finn, come in. If anyone can hear me on this frequency, come in.” She waits, counting slowly to thirty as the rain pours down on her. No one answers. She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket, but there’s no reception. I must be in the shadow of the mountain, so all communication signals are blocked. “Guess I’m on my own then,” she murmurs, as she takes another looks around her. The Geiger counter has finally fallen silent.
At least I don’t have to worry about getting radiation poisoning. Still, she gives the counter a kick for good measure. It was what had brought her into this woods, and although she knows it’s a juvenile reaction, it
makes her feel a little better.
She takes a breath and gets her bearings, pulling her hood up over her wet hair and shoulders. Carrying her bag full of samples, she heads in the direction she thinks is towards the town. Before any employee is allowed out in the field, Shale sends them on a one week survivalist course. At the time, she was pretty sure it was just a way of avoiding any lawsuits from employees that got injured or worse on the job, but right now she is grateful for it. “The first thing I need to do is figure out how close I am to any homes. Beaumont is only a couple of miles away from Spring Canyon, if I get a move on I can be there in half an hour,” she says quietly, choosing to ignore the voice in her head that points out those calculations are only right if she’s headed in the right direction.
She shines her torch ahead of her. The afternoon sky has turned black as night, and the weather isn’t showing any signs of letting up. The dirt underfoot is quickly turning into a river of mud, making any progress pretty slow-going. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees movement. She whips around, shining the torch in the direction of the flash, but there’s nothing there.
“Easy, Sofie,” she says, trying to get her heart rate under control. She takes a few steps forward and then stands stock-still as she hears something that makes her blood run cold. It sounds like a wolf howl. But that’s not possible. There aren’t any wolves in this part of the country. If there were, then it would have come up in the research.
“It’s just the wind, it’s just the wind,” she repeats, trying to calm herself.
She hears a rustle behind her and flicks the torch in the direction of the sound, but again, there’s nothing there. Against all her better judgment, she breaks into a run, forging forwards, as quickly as she can with her backpack. She catches a flash of yellow ahead of her, accompanied by another howl. This time it’s closer, coming up on her left side. She knows that it’s definitely not the wind, so she veers off to her right, not even sure where she’s headed anymore, just trying to put as much distance as possible between her and whatever is out there.
Her legs are burning as her boots get heavier from all the mud they’re picking up, and her bag seems to weigh more with every step. However, she carries on, moving as quickly as she can. She steals a look behind her, catching sight again of a shape moving fast between the trees and her breath catches in her throat. She loses focus on what’s ahead of her and trips on a branch, her torch clattering to the ground as she throws her hands out to break her fall.
The shock of the impact keeps her still for a few seconds, and she takes stock. Her right knee feels like it’s grazed; but, other than that, she’s pretty sure she’s not hurt. She pushes herself up off of the floor, and the howling brings her back to the here and now. The torch has fallen a few feet behind her. Although she doesn’t want to go backwards, she knows she’s not going to last for long without any light, especially since this rain doesn’t show any signs of letting up.
There’s another flash of gold, just behind the trees, and Sofie takes a deep breath as she rushes to grab the torch and spins around in one movement. But before she can take another step, she opens her mouth and screams. She hadn’t heard anyone coming up behind her, but suddenly there was a man ahead of her, a giant of a man in the middle of the woods. She shines the light up into his face, wishing that her hands weren’t shaking so much.
“Don’t come any closer.” She reaches for the Swiss army knife that her dad had given her, one of the only things that the repo guys had let her keep.
“Easy, running girl. I’m here to help.” The deep voice booms out from the man ahead, and as Sofie’s heart rate slows, she realizes that she recognizes the voice and the face that’s squinting against the bright torch-light currently shining in his face. It was the guy from the morning before, the rock climbing guy with no equipment. The unbelievably beautiful man.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, wondering if the serial killer idea that she’d had was so far off after all.
“What am I doing here?” he repeats, laughing at her question. “What are you doing here more like? You’re a long way from home, little lady.” The way he looks at her makes her blush like a teenager.
“I got separated from my team...my friends.” Sofie cringes at her own misstep, hoping that he hasn’t caught it.
“Good thing I was passing by and saw the light from your torch. There are wolves in these woods, and they wouldn’t think twice about taking a bite out of a pretty little thing like you.” He folds his arms, appraising her, clearly taking in the huge bag she’s carrying and the way she’s dressed.
“Wolves don’t attack humans,” Sofie points out, wondering why she sounds so prissy, even to herself. “Besides, there’s no record of any wolves in this area.”
The big man chuckles like that’s the funniest thing he’s heard in a good long while and then turns around and sets off.
“Hey, where are you going?” Sofie hurries after him, fully aware that he may be the best chance she has of getting out of this place before dawn.
“Getting you out of here. If that’s alright by you, of course.” The laughter in his voice is warm, and Sofie decides that this is one of those times that it makes sense not to answer back.
He walks through the woods, picking his way through, avoiding the roots and stones jutting out from the ground like he can see in the dark. Sofie notices that there’s something about the way he moves; it’s graceful, but he’s coiled like a spring. She gets the impression he could lash out at any moment.
Sofie isn’t quite as skilled maneuvering through the woods. Her toe meets something hard, and she’s about to go face down in the mud again, but a hand reaches out to catch her. As she steadies herself, she feels the electricity as their bodies meet. His hand feels so warm, but she shivers in spite of herself. Only then does she realize that she’s soaked straight down to the bone.
“You’re cold,” he says factually. He pulls off his jacket and, ignoring her protests, he drapes it over her shoulders and takes the bag out of her hand in one smooth move.
“It’s fine. I can carry it.” Sofie makes a grab for the bag, but she’s too slow. The square set of the man’s shoulders tells her that there’s no use in arguing. Besides, she’s grateful that she doesn’t have to carry the weight of it anymore.
“Jeez, what are you carrying around with you, running girl? Rocks?” He shakes his head as he continues on, stretching his hand out behind him every so often, almost like he senses when Sofie might be about to fall.
His reactions are nothing if not impressive. That’s why I can’t stop staring at his strong, broad back, right? His question is a little too astute, so I’m just going to say nothing. I wonder how easy it’s going to be to come up with an excuse as to why I’m dressed this way—and in the middle of the woods in a thunderstorm, too.
“Can I use your cell? I just want to let my friends know I’m okay.” Sofie has to raise her voice to be heard over the hammering rain.
“No service in the canyon.” The response is short and to the point, and she wonders if she’s imagining that he sounds a little angry. She shuts her mouth, figuring that silence is sometimes the best recourse.
They continue walking for a few more minutes until the woods clears and they’re on a trail, or more like a muddy pool in this weather. There’s a pickup truck that’s just visible under a heap of branches and leaves. Sofie’s rescuer walks over to it purposefully, lifting the heavy branches off of the car as if they weigh nothing. Why he would go to the trouble of camouflaging his own car? Perhaps he is an illegal poacher, she thinks fleetingly.
“Are you going to stare at it or get in?” he asks, as he throws her pack into the back. She winces, wondering if any of her fragile equipment has been broken by his sheer brute force. Then, she remembers the Geiger counter that she’d kicked to pieces out in the woods and tells herself to chill out.
Wordlessly, she slides into the passenger seat, grateful for the blast of heat that hits her
as he turns the key in the ignition. As they rumble along the trail, she sneaks a peek at the man filling the driver’s seat next to her. He really is as gorgeous as she had first thought. His dark blonde hair is wet from the rain, and his plain white tee is plastered against his body, outlining the contours of his muscles. He turns his head, looking straight at her, catching her staring at him. She drops her eyes, knowing that she’s been caught.
“What are those for?” she asks, her eyes settling on a pair of binoculars in the open glove compartment. The poacher hypothesis is starting to look like a winner.
“Birdwatching,” he replies without missing a beat. He looks straight ahead, as he pulls out of the trail and onto the road, but Sofie’s sure she can see a smile creep onto his lips.
“Birdwatching, right. I should have guessed. You do look like your typical ethnologist after all.” Sofie rolls her eyes as she stares out of the window, wondering if this rain is going to stop before they have to cover their next site the following day.
Sitting quietly, Sofie thinks, All signs point towards the fact that this guy is a poacher, but there’s something about him that doesn’t quite fit with that idea. He has a hungry look, but not the hardness that I associate with guys who are killing animals for sport. It doesn’t seem honorable enough for him. But then, I really doesn’t know him well enough to make that call.
“So what are you and your...friends doing here in Beaumont? You don’t look like the typical rock climber groupies that pass through here from time to time. And I’m sure that gear that you’re wearing looks pretty hi-tech when it’s not caked in mud.” There’s definitely a twitch of a smile at the corner of his mouth when he says this, and it makes Sofie glance down at her clothes.
I must look like the creature from the swamp, she thinks. She’d never liked being on the back foot, and this was no different. If anything, it was worse. She felt like the unpopular kid at school, who is being tormented by the star quarterback. But this isn’t school, Sofie, she reminds herself. Besides, what do I care what he thinks I look like? However, she knows the hollowness of that statement. Of course, I care. If he wasn’t so goddam perfect looking, then it would make things a whole lot easier.
Storm Shades Page 3